Once
up on a time the Sami Indigenous people were called by the Russians “lopari”.
By the Europeans they were called Laplanders. Tacitus wrote at I century
b.c. “ ...Those people are happier all of us who are laboring farming, getting
tired by building a house and live in fear over our material possessions.”.
Russian anthropologist A. I. Kelsiev wrote: ”lopari are honest people, kind,
pleasant, hospitable, happy and highly mild in their family lives.”.

Sami language is part of the Finno - Ugric
group. But stands aside since one third of the lexical sub-strata does
not correspond to the other languages in the group. As far as the anthropologists
are concerned the Sami have almost nothing in common with the Finno-Ugric
people.

In the first quarter of the XIV century
the Kola peninsula was “discovered” by the Norwegians. In the XV century
the Norwegians divided the Kola Sami into four groups - Kontchan, Ter,
Lesheu and the Wild (not baptized).

At the present the total number of Sami
in Scandinavia and Russia is 31 000. Their language has 55 dialects. The
Kola Sami have 4 dialects - Notozersky, Babinky, Iokan’gsky and Kildinsky.

The total number of the Kola Sami is 1700.
Once the famous Russian writer Prishvin wrote: ”I read somewhere that
Lopari must vanish from the face of the earth because no one will ever
sing songs about their miserable life. I have met them. These people “forgotten
by the world” laugh with innocent laughter of a child!”. May be the modern
world should take the out most care of the Sami, in case people of the
world will forget how to laugh then Sami will teach them how to do it.